


Shooting stars

by johnmykawaiiwaifu



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-14
Updated: 2012-03-16
Packaged: 2017-11-01 22:23:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnmykawaiiwaifu/pseuds/johnmykawaiiwaifu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You've always been anti-social, keeping your dreams and imagination to yourself, trying to make friends in all the wrong ways and in all the wrong places. The only smile you've ever seen is the weak one your reflection returns. </p>
<p>So who can blame you for being surprised when Nepeta shows up at the door? </p>
<p>(Rated Teen for some language)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which we meet our hero... and stare at some walls

**Author's Note:**

> Aurora, this is for you, you and only you. Be happy I'm making more than one chapter and this will turn into what i'm hoping is more than a little fluff peice you were expecting. 
> 
> After all, did you really think I was only going to write fluff? This is ME after all. 
> 
> xx~johnmykawaiiwaifu

Your story begins, like many others, with a dream. You dreamt of purple towers and darkness and so many secrets the air was thick with them. The streets were made of lies, and the people of shadow. You were in a tower, a sparse purple room with nothing but a large window overlooking the land.

You felt like royalty. And rightly, too. You were Eridan Ampora. You _were_ royalty. But arrogance aside, it was a fine view. The people hurried through the streets below, little dots of black with scraps of colorful cloaks streaming out behind them. This was such a strange dream, so vivid. You could feel the stone of the windowsill beneath your palms. Your view was wonderful; you could probably see everything there was to see. And that was why you noticed the figure floating by another purple tower, not too far away from you. There was something familiar about them, you feel as if you should know who they were, but you didn’t. They turned around and floated about a bit, and you were debating whether or not to yell at them to remove themselves from your view. This was, after all, a very boring dream so far. You cleared your throat, and you were about to yell at them, but they started floating towards the ground. You relaxed. This was your own private dream; no one would disturb your quite ruling of this land.

And then the figure appeared again, closer this time. All you could make out was a flowing purple dress, short black hair and something strange and vaguely twitchy about them. They made you think of an animal, wild, lightning fast reflexes and unpredictable. You have the nagging feeling you’re supposed to be doing something…

And then you can feel the dream slipping away from you and no matter how hard you struggle to hold on, it fades away. The figure looks at you, scrunches up their face as if not believing you’re there, and then gently shakes its head and floats away. You could have sworn you knew that face…

But that dream was last night, and as you stand in wind and sunlight, being buffeted by the smell of the sea, it slips out of your mind. You’re expecting a day of doing nothing. And not in a general sense, as in reading or watching the television or talking to friends all day. You don’t even know what a bloody television is. No, you’re looking towards sitting on the ground and staring at a wall. You wish there was some grass around that you could watch grow, that would be an exciting treat. But before you can do that, (or technically, _not_ do) you need to practice posing heroically. You’re sure you look quite dashing, you cape and scarf whipping about in the wind, staring off into the horizon.

This is a daily routine for you, you don’t know what you would do with yourself if not pose heroically. What if you ever met someone else? You would need to be able to look even more stunningly handsome than you already are. (which is difficult but you’re sure the heroic posing helps) So what Fef says you look silly? You don’t need her. You used to, but now you’re free. All you have to do is wait, and someone else will come to you. And you and your heroic posing will win them over and you will be launched into a wonderful moirallegiance. Or maybe even matespritship, but you’re not willing to push your luck just yet.

You’ve already learned that the hard way.

Finally you get tired of watching the clouds drift by, and you relax your shoulders and expression. You turn away from the sea, and stroll past everything in your all-too-familiar hive. The fridge full of shitty wands, the rooms full of darkness. Everything is black and purple and several different shades of grey. It’s all so gloomy, but you don’t mind it. In the darkness you can pretend you’re in a room full of people. Silent people, yes, but they’re still company.

As you prop yourself up against the fridge and look at the wall, the room fills with people. All this time alone has sharpened your imagination to near perfection. As the people waltz by, every fold in their clothing, the non-existent light glittering off their hair, everything is so clear. As if you’re actually there.

In your imagination, no one ever talks to you; no one ever notices you’re there, and you like it that way. You don’t know what you would do if anyone ever leaned over and said hello, or asked you for the time. Acting this perfect all the time was hard, and when the people in your mind visit it’s a time for you to relax. If anyone noticed you, you would have to act perfect and untouchable.

When you thought about other people, being yourself never once crossed your mind.

You were following a dancing couple around the room. A woman with impeccably black hair and a flowing yellow ball gown smiled at a man in a light blue suit. As you focused on them their image sharpened, and the other dancers fuzzed around the edges. They looked so happy. It was weird, how you could imagine a smile that bright when the only smile you’d ever seen was your own in the mirror. And then something buzzed and you jerked out of your daydream, hitting your head on the door of the fridge. Well damn, that hurt.

You rub the back of your head and look for the source of that infernal buzz. It sounded familiar, in an awful, slightly nagging manner. Oh well fuck, it was that annoying buzzing of someone pestering you. You pretend to be calm and collected, slowly making your way over to the computer. And then it buzzes again, and a few more times, and then stops.

The silence overwhelms you before your fins pick up the sound of the ocean, and you stumble over towards the computer. No way in hell were you going to let whoever was messaging you get the last word. You trip over something, and land on the ground hard (and very un-dignified). But no one could see you, so you just jumped back up and opened the chat log.

\-- arsenicCatnip [AC] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA] at 13:08 --

AC: :33 < hey eridan!

AC: :33 < *ac is concerned by the fact her furrend would ignore a chance to talk*

AC: :33 < *ac wonders if something is wrong with eridan seeing as he never misses a chance to socialize*

AC: :33 < *ac is bored and had hoped her furrend would help her would help entertain her*

AC: :33 < i didn’t think it was pawssible for you to get any more boring eridan!

CA: i wwas busy jegus fuckin calm dowwn

AC: :33 < busy with what?

CA: none a your fuckin business thats wwhat

AC: :33 < eridan you’re being absolutely pawful to me!

CA: wwell life is tough nep and youre goin to have to deal wwith it

AC: :33 < but i had a surprise for you!

CA: shore you did

CA: oh fuck i didnt mean to let that pun in there

AC: :33 < *ac looks upon her furrend eridan with amusement*

CA: yes ha ha fuckin ha

CA: wwhat do you wwant noww

AC: :33 < i have a surprise!

CA: im not goin to guess wwhat it is nep

AC: :33 < i wasn’t thinking about that but that’s a great idea!

AC: :33 < guess what it is! *ac’s eyes are bright with excitement and anticipation*

CA: wwhat

AC: :33 < i said guess! *ac is not planning on giving up until ca guesses*

CA: did you get me a fuckin pony

CA: or a group of showwgirls?

CA: actually a life wwould be pretty fuckin nice right noww

AC: :33 < nope, it’s none of those!

CA: wwell i guessed so wwhat is it

AC: :33 < but i was having fun making you guess!

CA: nep stop bein a fuckin idiot im not goin to guess

AC: :33 < you’re just a pawful bad sport eridan!

AC: :33 < but fine you did guess

AC: :33 < well how about you go outside and see what the surprise is!

CA: no

CA: its fuckin cold out

AC: sure it is eridan *ac looks slyly from side to side, not willing to tell her secret just yet*

\-- arsenicCatnip [AC] stopped trolling caligulasAquarium [CA] at 13:20--

CA: wwhat

CA: wwhat the hell is that supposed to mean

CA: fuckin hell nep way to just leavve

You shake your head and turn towards the door. If anyone was there with you you’d just laugh at the crazy autistic cat girl and brush off the fact she said she had a surprise. But you were alone, like always, and you thought it couldn’t hurt to see what Nepeta’s so called ‘surprise’ was. You push the door open, squinting in anticipation of sunlight, but all you get is a face full of Nepeta, beaming and holding some roses.

She giggled. “Do you always squint like that, Eridan? You look silly!”

“Wwhat the hell?” You take a few steps backwards, startled. But who can blame you? This was the last thing you were expecting.

“Oh!” She thrust the roses at you, flustered. “Surprise!”


	2. In which our hero and heroine get to know each other better, and make fools out of themselves

Your name is Eridan Ampora, and today is not going how you’d planned. You were pretty damn shocked, and obviously you weren’t hiding it very well.

“I’m sorry, is this a bad time?” Nepeta frowned at you, biting her lower lip and looking at the ground.

“No, it’s just… not wwhat I wwas expectin.”

She laughed. It wasn’t a nervous laugh or a shy giggle, but a full out laugh. You could tell she was trying not to double over. “You actually talk like that?”

You were taken aback. What was that supposed to mean? Of course you did, it was your nature. A strange little quirk you’d adapted in speech and transferred into writing. “Yeah, wwhat of it?” You take the roses from her, holding them tightly and cocking an eyebrow at her.

“Oh. Nothing, really nothing. Don’t mind me...” She blushed now, her cheeks shading a color of green identical to her text. You could have hit yourself. Of course it was her blood color you idiot. You should be embarrassed for being in the presence of such a… a _low-blood_. But all you did was smile weakly and ask if she might want to come inside.

“No, I like it out here!” She grinned and absent-mindedly brushed her hair out of her face, her hand curling like a paw. Her smile is so sweet, her voice so soft and musical. There seemed to be hints of chiming when she speaks, showing themselves boldly and then hiding, teasing at your fins and telling you to find the music. But of course, you never can.

Suddenly the smile disappears off her face as easily as it came, and her eyes dart back and forth, her brow furrowed. “Where’s everyone else? Every time I talk with you it seems like there are a lot of people around you.”

“Oh.” Well this is going to be an awkward day. “Wwell those wwere…” You cough awkwardly. “The people in my head..?” This time you actually do hit yourself, a full out, stereotypical facepalm before you can stop yourself. You could have lied to her, made yourself sound so much cooler, but you told her they were _the people in your fucking head_. What the hell made you think that would be an okay thing to say?

She’s giving you a bright, if slightly confused, smile. “So you mean you’ve been alone all this time? No one to role-play with? Purrfect!” The confusion is wiped off her face as she grabs your hand and pulls you to the ground, sitting cross-legged and beaming so big it looks like her face is going to fall off.

“Wwhat?”

“Have you ever role-played before?” Her face was serious now. It was making you nervous.

“Um. No? I mean, no. I havven’t.” You let out a breathy laugh, tugging at your scarf. “But I don’t think it wwould be my… forte.” You’re really hoping Nepeta didn’t travel all the way to see you so she could spend all day teaching you to RP. She looked disappointed.

“Then what is?”

You could tell her anything now. You could tell her you spent your days fighting off hordes of imps or humans or… what was it Rose had said to you before? Oh right, ninjas. That would make you seem much cooler, with your untouchable poise and heroic self-importance. Or you could tell her you were a master of a more refined art, such as chess or napkin folding. But that was lame. And looking into her eyes, those yellow and green globes, staring at you expectantly, you stop thinking for a moment and just tell her the truth.

“I spend some time lookin at the clouds, thinkin and observin. Once in a wwhile Fef comes over and wwe talk some. Other than that I sit around, I guess you could say I’m mopin and feelin sorry for myself, or I swwim. The wwater’s real nice and can calm you dowwn, but I doubt you’vve evver been in the wwater because evveryone’s always wwarnin you about the high bloods ‘n such. But you probably don’t care about any a this so nevver mind.” You trail off, her stare unnerving you.

“I care, Eridan. If you don’t mind could you take me for a swim?” Her voice is barely a whisper, and you’re pretty sure she’s just trying to make you feel better, but you shrug as if it was no big deal.

“Sure, if you wwant to.”

She glances into the water and you imagine how cold and un-inviting it must look to someone who’s never been in it before. “Wwhat is it?”

She looks at you, pausing for a moment, probably trying to find a way to say what she means without offending you. “It’s… the water just looks so… um.” She bites her lower lip again.

“Intimidatin? Don’t wworry ‘bout it.” You try and give her a reassuring smile which she returns.

“Well then what are we waiting for!” You can tell she’s just waiting for the word, and she’ll plunge into the water, fully trusting you to protect her. But the thing is, you’re not as sure.

“Uh. Wwell, you see, I’vve nevver taken anybody else before…” But you regret saying that, as you can see her lose all her confidence on the matter. But you kind of did want to show Nepeta the sea. You’re just not sure about a few tiny issues…

Breathing, for instance.

But that doesn’t matter. You slip your hand into hers, and before she can protest you dive. She lets out a little squeak as the cold water washes over her, and she lets go of your hand, frantically splashing around and trying to stay afloat.

“Nep! Nep, you havve to calm dowwn!” She does, the thrashing water stops and she just bobs up and down, gasping for air. You find her hand underwater, and she looks at you, both determined and pleading. It’s all you can do not to laugh. She’s soaking wet and looks awful.

“It’s cold.” That’s all she says. That one statement showing you she’s not afraid, but she’s not thrilled. You wrap your cape around her, and she clings to you, her nails digging into your shoulder. You don’t know what she’s talking about, it seems plenty warm to you.

“Wwell that part didn’t quite go howw I planned.” She laughs at this, and you ponder the matter of breathing. “I’m assumin you can’t breathe underwwater?” She shakes her head, flecking your glasses with drops of water. “Wwell I’m not sure howw this is goin to wwork then. I’vve heard rumors about howw if I kiss someone they havve the ability to breathe underwwater…” You say this as casually as you can, but Nepeta tenses up and starts pushing away from you. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Oh wwell. I wanted to showw you somethin, but I guess not…” You _did_ want to show her something, so technically you weren’t lying. But it didn’t matter, it worked. Nepeta turned back to you, and you could have sworn she squared her shoulders as if facing an obstacle, which kind of offended you. But you asked for a kiss, and you got one. After watching her talk and smile for the past half an hour, you would have thought you knew everything about her lips. How they curve when she smiled, how the upper lip seemed thinner when she laughed. But you didn’t know how warm her lips would feel against yours, or how those hands, curling into paws all the time, could as easily curl around your neck, pulling you closer and holding you tighter. But you pull apart what seems like much too soon, and you’re left with an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach and the taste of salt on your lips.

And then before you can stop her, she’s underwater, swimming back and forth and smiling. She burst through the surface, laughing. “It worked, Eridan! I can breathe!” You laugh too, and the roses you’d left on land blew past you, scattering in the wind and waves.

“Oh, Nep, sorry.” But she doesn’t seem to care. She’s furiously scratching below her ears, and telling you not to worry, if you didn’t mind she didn’t either. “Wwhat’s wwrong?” She keeps scratching, and you can see something breaking through her skin… they almost look like…

“Holy shit, Nep, you’re growwin fins!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> creds to sarah for "IT'S THE PEOPLE IN MY MIIIIIIND"


	3. In which we meet and say farewell to yet another character, and see some shooting stars

Nepeta’s eyes doubled in size, as she carefully felt her new fins. You could tell she was thinking about how she was going to explain this. Namely, to Equius, who probably wouldn’t be thrilled she’d run off to spend the day with sea dwellers in the first place, let alone grew fins in the process. 

“Oh. Wow, Eridan, I didn’t know this was going to happen!” Her voice was thick with panic, and her animal instincts that something was wrong kicked in, and you could tell she was having a hard time staying calm. 

“It’s probably temporary. Nothin to wworry about.” This seemed to calm her down a bit. You tried to smile reassuringly at her. “Wwell, wwe came here for a swwim, right? Or did I jump into this wwater for nothin?” 

She laughed, diving deeper into the ocean than she had before. Her coat was billowing out behind her, making her look so small and fragile in comparison. And it was probably weighing her down; you know your cape was. 

You’d never realized how much you’d needed this, this company. Sure, Fef was there sometimes, but she never laughed at your bad jokes or awkwardness, and her laugh wasn’t anything like Nep’s. Fef was always laughing at you, but this time around, Nep was laughing with you, and it felt great. She was a fast learner, and her nervous twitching became less frequent as you showed her schools of colorful fish and underwater plants. She took a particular fascination in seaweed; she loved the flickering greens of sunlight catching off the plant. 

She took a few attempts at speech, but still found it hard to open her mouth and feel the sea water gushing in, but still be able to breathe. Though after you’d told her not to swallow too much salt water she stopped opening her mouth altogether. 

She seemed to want something from you, and was trying to mime it out, but you couldn’t tell what it was. She was frantically picking things up and putting her hands up to her head and batting her eyelashes. 

“Wwhat?” 

Finally she just rolled her eyes, opened her mouth and gurgled something that sounded like “Freferi?” 

“Oh, you wwant to knoww wwhere Fef is?” She nodded. “Wwell you could havve just said so.” She rolled her eyes, and then followed you through the water. The sun must have been setting, as it was getting herder to see, and shadows danced dangerously around some harmless fish or a bit of coral. The darkness and strange feeling of a mixture of fear and un-sureness reminded you of your dream last night, with the purple towers and the mysterious figure… 

And then it all snaps into place, and you realize the other troll in your dream was Nepeta. It was kind of weird, that you’d dreamt about her. You don’t know how you got the mental image so exact. Had you ever seen her before that dream? You didn’t think so… 

Oh right, obviously you were on Derse. Duh, that should have been obvious. You wonder if part of the reason Nepeta showed up was that you’d seen each other last night… But you were jerked back to reality as Nepeta grabbed onto your cape. It was probably too dark for her to see now. 

You guided her towards the surface, but only enough for the fading light to allow you to see your surroundings. Now, you were pretty sure Fef was somewhere around here…

“Boo!” 

Nepeta shrieked and you whipped around to see Feferi there, holding her trident behind her back and grinning, her skirt and hair billowing around her. 

“Fef, that wwas not cool. I swwear I just lost a feww years off my life.” 

“Oh, Eridan you’re such a cull joy.” She rolled her eyes and turned to Nepeta with a sweet smile. “Now what are you doing down here, swimming with the fishes? I was so sharked when I saw you I was shore I was mistaken!” 

Nepeta pointed to her new gills and smiled. 

“So you’ve been showing her around the sea dweller territory? Oh cod, Eridan, do you know how badly this could turn out?” 

“So who’s the cull joy now?” You were sounding childish, but you didn’t care. It wasn’t her business if you were showing Nep around a bit. 

“I’ve haddock up to here with you, Eridan!” She pointed a finger at her slim neck, sounded more annoyed than she ever had before. “You can’t just show anyone you want to around, and how the hell did she get gills? This is a load of carp, and you know it! You’ve sunk to a whole new depth, and this is ridiculous, just because you’re prawn to getting rejected doesn’t mean you should upset the delicate balance of everything just to get someone to like you! If you needed me this badly, you could have said so.” 

“I did.” You could see Nepeta out of the corner of your eye, hanging back, her eyes darting between you and Fef like she was watching a tennis match. She looked like she didn’t want to hear this, and probably shouldn’t be. “I did tell you, Fef. And wwhat did you givve me? You told me you thought I could handle it on my owwn. And noww I am, and wwhat are you doin? Tellin me I’m bein ridiculous.” Feferi didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, so you just took Nepeta by the hand and lead her away. And you swear you can hear the faint whispering of Fef, but you ignore everything. Everything except for the last few words, which you couldn’t help but hear. 

“I sea what you did there.” 

It seems like the return ship is shorter, and it probably is, seeing at the first time you were showing Nep all the sea life. But now it’s too dark to do that, and you both climb out of the water, soaking wet and shivering in the wind. You ask Nepeta if she wants to go inside, maybe get a dry change of clothes, but she shakes her head and says she wants to look at the stars. 

So you two sit and shiver, arms around each others wastes, staring at the stars. 

“I’ve always wanted to see a shooting star.” 

“A shootin star? I’vve seen a feww.” And then, as if the sky was listening in on your conversation, the most beautiful, glimmering, blinding white star shot across the sky, leaving an arc of white fire in its wake. 

“Wow.” She sighed, and that musical chiming in her voice reached your fins again, and you searched for it desperately in the silence, trying to find where it’s hidden. 

But of course, you never can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this ended kind of abruptly, but it didn't seem to be working anymore


End file.
